1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
There is no natural law whereby a man can be born a second time—Nicodemus was right there: How can a man be born when he is old? No man ought to need to be born again; the fact that he does indicates that something has gone wrong with the human race.
~Oswald Chambers
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Outward forms or inward antagonisms
The later the superior
The former a reflection
A matter of course
The great conflict in the world
Is hostility to God
The great "of"
'The world'
And we find ourselves taken out of it's sphere, it's influence and redrawn as it were. Made new spiritual creations, distilled, born anew, "again". The whole system that is our disposition, such a powerful definition this word, not merely altered nor transformed, though it is a great transformation, it's a replacement, no, a [i]displacement
[b]Disposition
DISPOSITION, n.
1. The act of disposing, or state of being disposed.
2. Manner in which things or the parts of a complex body are placed or arranged; order; method; distribution; arrangement. We speak of the disposition of the infantry and cavalry of an army; the disposition of the trees in an orchard; the disposition of the several parts of an edifice, of the parts of a discourse, or of the figures in painting.
3. Natural fitness or tendency. The refrangibility of the rays of light is their disposition to be refracted. So we say, a disposition in plants to grow in a direction upwards; a disposition in bodies to putrefaction.
4. Temper or natural constitution of the mind; as an amiable or an irritable disposition.
5. Inclination; propensity; the temper or frame of mind, as directed to particular objects. We speak of the disposition of a person to undertake a particular work; the dispositions of men towards each other; a disposition friendly to any design.
6. Disposal; alienation; distribution; a giving away or giving over to another; as, he has made disposition of his effects; he has satisfied his friends by the judicious disposition of his property.
Look at some of the words;
Act
Manner
Arrangement
Natural fitness
Inclination
Direction
Temper
Constitution
Propensity
Frame of mind
Alienation
Distribution
Disposal
To whit;
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Joh 3:3
I wonder if the emphasis is often on the wrong particulars.
'He cannot see'
What was the overall indictment the Lord Himself so often spoke of?
Mat 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
Joh 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Mat 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
Mat 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
On a side note, to study out this word in the Lords ministry is quite remarkable; Was there anything more addressed even in the physical healings than blindness? Early on I recall having a great difficulty with the Lord's pronouncement;
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20
And how unutterably an impossibility I found that to be. The inverse of Nicodemus, 'How can a man be born when he is old? How can these things be?'
Exceed?
Taking the bookends of Joh 3:3 and Mat 5:20, seeing and entering, interchangeable and interconnected. We can neither enter without seeing, nor see without entering. If [i]all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away
Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Too easy to camp on the first part and fail at that last line; [i]these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone
This began in my thought's as just a look at the dichotomy of 'in the world but not of the world'. Oswald Chambers spoke to this eloquently making note that a great deal of the population gets along pretty well, in conduct and even moral attributes. Generally speaking we have justice and not wholesale anarchy amongst us. The freeway's are not demolition derby's, most people are not incorrigible. They work hard, love their families, do what needs to be done, are 'just trying to get through life'. Look at your own present circumstances and surroundings. Most business's, even one you may work in abides by set laws, tax structures, accountabilities. They are largely upright, support their workers, provide benefit's, grant opportunities. Higher learning for all that might be said otherwise as to modes of operation in the thinking process, still, job skills, craft, career advancement. Hospitals. Having recently gone through a round of experience personally with my mother, what a tremendous job these people do. I both wondered and marveled at so many different aspects and even my Dad took note of the drain of the surgeon who preformed a delicate operation, brain surgery on my mother. It was written across his face and exuded out of his presence. My father expressed a great faith by exclaiming to him afterward, "I am sure she will be alright after being in such capable hands" to which he responded, "Bless you". He was very contrite and humbled ... and exhausted. What must it take out of a man to have such a responsibility of life and death, of possible consequences to a patient ... to someone else's loved one. The unsung hero's throughout, nurses and orderly's, those doing job's that many a person would find so below their "dignity", they do not know nor understand what true dignity even is. These very people are the dignified.
Where we can very far go wrong is in ascribing a superiority complex that makes everyone else a 'heathen' when they are very much blinded as we once were.
Joh 9:25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
There is just as much a sense of being "caught up in the world" as to those who have purposed in their heart that this is all their is, all that ever was and all their will ever be, the summation of 'evolution'. It begs the question; Is their really just two 'kinds' of people in the world or is it in fact a collision of the two worlds with all kinds of causalities, friendly fire as it were, hostile fire, crossfire?
The walking wounded, some by choice, some by 'happenstance'. Don't get me wrong here. There is a great indictment on the human race which has sentenced all under death. Facts are difficult things, facing them more difficult.
[i]The safe position in Christian thinking is to remember that there are deeper depths than we can fathom, higher heights than we can know; it keeps us reverent, keeps us from hardening off into a confined, cabined experience of our own.
~Chambers
Just as well, it is here were I wonder at the application from us who know better to ascribe finality and conclusion to an ongoing process. Towards those outside and inside the fold. We just do not know all people's hearts the way the Lord does. Nor those of our own kind is it our duty to take matters into our own hands and pronounce judgment when matters are still in motion. That there is a want to do so is the overlooked aspect, to want to be inspectors of others fruit for the purpose of making statement. It is quite peculiar to hear it come up here time and again in various forms, who is or is not a Christian. It may in fact be true! The very scary part is the opposite, it may not be so and the one passing judgment will have some difficult explaining to do if the one in process turns out to have changed an opinion, realized a mistake, repented between the Lord and him or her self and you are left holding the bag. How will these things uttered without knowledge sound repeated back in ones ears in the judgment? One would think it is frightening enough to put a wholesale stop to the matter. A thought never again to be entertained.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
There is something very demanding of us all here that seems to be given short shift and would want to draw our attention to;
That the world may believe
That the world may know
That thou hast sent me
And for us
That they also may be one in us
That they may be made perfect in one
I in them, and thou in me
It is interesting how dependent the one is upon the other. And where Philologo's I thought brought out in full measure the sentiment;
He wants His Son to receive the glory for what He has accomplished. This is why the Spirit came to make us 'witnesses to Christ' not 'soul-winners'.Now I expect to get into terrible trouble for the last sentence but please don't misunderstand me. I am talking about 'God's reasons', not about whether or not we should be preaching the gospel.
Can't help but feel the disjointedness of all this. Had started off seemingly in one direction and ended up elsewhere. My own tendencies here are often collectively, across the many discussions and observations. Everything from Jesse's open air preaching to pronouncements and judgments on others. From whether a sinner can stop sinning to what is required of us. Original sin or original righteousness. Personal experience in reality this past week or so found a great breach, sin, no other name for it. It broke me up differently and I pray hopefully forever changed to recall when it next comes it is answered before it is finished.
"It is not My will" is so entrenched that is seems stamped to the back of my eyes and etched into my heart, my very soul. Grieve not the Holy Spirit.
Maybe all the attempt here is to stop and ponder on what we are doing, speaking, writing, stating and ask the question the Lord asked of the Father in His prayer for us and look out to the world that may be peering in on these things...
That the world may believe
That the world may know
That thou hast sent ... Him
Do they know it?
Do they believe it?
Do we give ample evidence of it?